Member Sign In

You are being directed to ZacksTrade, a division of LBMZ Securities and licensed broker-dealer. ZacksTrade and Zacks.com are separate companies. The web link between the two companies is not a solicitation or offer to invest in a particular security or type of security. ZacksTrade does not endorse or adopt any particular investment strategy, any analyst opinion/rating/report or any approach to evaluating indiv idual securities.

If you wish to go to ZacksTrade, click OK. If you do not, click Cancel.

Thor Industries

Thor Industries Inc. (THO - Free Report) grew earnings per share by 27.3% in its fiscal fourth quarter, driven by improved markets for recreational vehicles (RV) and buses. This manufacturer of RVs, buses and ambulances achieved a Zacks #2 Rank (Buy) on October 4 and offers a dividend yield of 2.0%. The company is expected to deliver double-digit growth in earnings in fiscal 2013 and beyond.

A Promising Fourth Quarter

On September 26, Thor Industries announced fiscal fourth quarter earnings of 84 cents per share, reflecting a 27.3% increase from 66 cents a year earlier. The result also exceeded the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 7.7%. Revenues of $888.2 million grew 15% from the prior-year quarter driven by a handsome 18% rise in total RV sales to $769.9 million.

According to the company, results will continue to improve due to strong growth in RV retail sales, right-sized RV dealer inventories and continued demand for replacement buses. Furthermore, the companys new RV product lines will help it to grow despite the strong competition in the market.

Earnings Momentum Rising

Over the last 7 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for fiscal 2013 has advanced 2.2% to $2.77, driven by upward revisions from 2 of 4 estimates. This outlook reflects year-over-year growth of 22.5%.

Escalating Dividends

Thor Industries follows a continuous dividend payment policy with a raise every year. On September 10, the company raised its regular quarterly dividend by 20% to 18 cents per share from 15 cents. The new dividend represents a payout ratio of 0.26 and a yield that is higher than its 5-year average of 1.4%.

Reasonable Valuation

The valuation for Thor Industries looks reasonable with shares trading at a forward P/E of 13.3x, a significant 41.2% discount to the peer group average of 22.6x. However, the price-to-sales ratio of 0.6 is on par with the peer group average. The company also has a 1-year ROE of 14.9%, which is much better than its peer group average of 5.2%.

A Glimpse at the Chart

The price and consensus chart shows that the stock is significantly undervalued as the 20112013 estimate lines are above the price line. This indicates that it has significant opportunities for growth. It reached its 52-week high of $37.85 on October 4.

Thor Industries is headquartered in Jackson Center, Ohio. The $1.9 billion company is the worlds largest manufacturer of a wide range of recreation vehicles and small and mid-size commercial buses and ambulances in the U.S. and Canada. As of July 31, 2012, the company had 1,600 dealers across the U.S. and Canada.

Want More of Our Best Recommendations?

Zacks' Executive VP, Steve Reitmeister, knows when key trades are about to be triggered and which of our experts has the hottest hand. Then each week he hand-selects the most compelling trades and serves them up to you in a new program called Zacks Confidential.

Resources

Client Support

Follow Us

Zacks Research is Reported On:

Yahoo

MSN

Marketwatch

Nasdaq

Forbes

Investors.com

Morningstar

Zacks Investment Research is an A+ Rated BBB Accredited Business.

Copyright 2016 Zacks Investment Research

At the center of everything we do is a strong commitment to independent research and sharing its profitable discoveries with investors. This dedication to giving investors a trading advantage led to the creation of our proven Zacks Rank stock-rating system. Since 1988 it has nearly tripled the S&P 500 with an average gain of +26% per year. These returns cover a period from 1988-2015 and were examined and attested by Baker Tilly Virchow Krause, LLP, an independent accounting firm.

Visit performance for information about the performance numbers displayed above.